When Nothing Else Matters
by TapTapAlways
Summary: Lara Croft does not need any man to function. Everyone knows that: Lara included. There was one man she wanted, true, but she didn't really need him, either. And then it all fell apart.
1. That Call

_This is the third in my little series of not connected Lara/Alex stories. Because we need more Lara/Alex in the world! There might yet be a fourth one too for all I know, but not in a long time, I have written all my existing headcanons at this point._

 _No copyright infringement is intended._

 _TapTap_

Naturally, Lara had no way to know what that phone call was about before it came. There was no bad feeling in her guts or any hair standing on edge. Everything was normal.

It had been a few weeks since she had left a man she'd once loved in an acid pool along with the man he'd helped her save the world from before betraying her and becoming as bad as the foe they had just conquered. Together. It was quite the betrayal, come to think of it. She didn't really do so for very long.

She didn't miss him - in fact, she'd been starting to look for her next project. She'd loved him once, or at least thought she'd been close, but it was a long time ago. The man he'd become was not the man she'd once trusted. That man had been dead for a while she suspected.

Then that phone rang. Long, shrill notes in the high-cielinged hallway until Hillary picked up and handed it over with an expression which was serious even for him. And the world all but stopped spinning.


	2. That Man

_On to the next! No copyright infringement is intended._

 _TapTap_

She would have never expected this. Of all the ways Lara thought her life might go, this was not even on the extra-super-long list. She was sitting too still in a plastic hospital chair, looking at the even more unmoving form in the narrow hospital bed. She was not entirely clear on how they'd ended up there. She trusted Bryce and Hillary would both find out in their own ways.

She'd seen her fair share of sleeping men, and more than anyone's share of the dead and dying, and it was always different. There was peace, pain or presence in mingled ways, but rarely had she ever seen anyone look so wrong and out of place as her Alex - _her_ , damn it - the only man who'd been able to match her (at least, for a fashion) those years ago, climbing up the clockwoork at the temple of time, now lying unmoving, in a coma, in a narrow hospital bed, tucked into white sheets. It was just not right. It was not meant to be this way.

She did not know how long she sat there, unmoving, uncomprehending.

It must have been a long time. Bryce and Hillary came and went, gave her information, cared, tried to comfort her and while technically incapable of doing so, still managing better than anybody else could have, until finally she had to move. Time kept passing, and she kept going there. She went on new adventures, continued on with her life as the weeks and months passed, but she always returned. Her life was the same, technically, as he had not been _in_ it, not for a long time and never _really_ , but at the same time, it could never be. She watched over him, as his face slowly changed, nothing so obvious as a beard, but seemingly aslways a stubble everytime she saw him.

She knew Bryce and Hillary worried, but they saw her carry on, and they didn't say anything.

She admitted everything to herself, at the end. She was in love with that man, and she not only knew it, but she wore it proudly. She was many things, but she was not afriad. Yet, instead of those beautiful eyes of his looking back at her, there was nothing. The only man she'd ever wanted, and he was trapped in the dark. For him, there was only darkness. She hated it.


	3. Those Eyes

_This story is more of a short and sweet, than any complicated plotline, so forgive me for only making it a trilogy of chapters. I have written two more Lara Croft/ Alex West stories, and they are both significantly longer at least in words as well as available on my profile. No coypright infrigement is intended, and I hope you have all enjoyed this story!_

 _TapTap_

Eyes opening. It was morning. A morning like any other, three years after Lara had gotten that phone call, almost to the day. Sun slanting into the room in Croft Manor in a warm and inviting fashion, much like every other morning. She opened her eyes and smiled without intending to, as she was met with the most beautiful blue eyes in the world - certianly the prettiest ones in _her_ world.. Alex smiled back at her, so warmly, like he had every morning (though he was usually not the one to wake first) since waking, many moons past. "Morning, sleepyhead" he tossed her own joke from their first few months as a couple back at her, his smile lighting up the room.

"Look who's talking" Lara felt herself smile before she consiously knew she was smiling. That happened a lot when her Alex was around: it always had.

"Sleeping beauty" he teased, laughing when Lara tossed a pillow at him with deadly accuracy, her aim not affected by her fondness, even if her choise of weapon was. He laughed again as he climbed back into bed with the breakfast tray, the two of them entangling under the covers as they sat together and ate. If he listened, he could almost hear her smile without turning his head to look.

No, Lara Croft didn't strictly need any man, but she wanted this one, and she would never stop considering herself lucky that he wanted her back. Perhaps he didn't strictly need her, either, or then again, maybe they both did, in their own ways. One thing was sure: they were both past caring, and they were in it for life. Always.


End file.
